The Reef (Haifa) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Alright, let’s have a proper look at what’s coming up for The Reef (Haifa). Straight up, I gotta be honest with you – this stretch ain’t looking too flash for the paddle crew. The whole 16-day window is a bit of a struggle, with most days offering up weak, short-period slop and cross-onshore or onshore winds that’ll chop things up. The best of it, and I’m using that word loosely, is around Thursday the 10th and Friday the 11th of September, where the swell energy gets into a low to moderate range (119), but even then the surf quality is labelled poor. For the beginner crew, the swell rarely tops 3 ft, so it’s not big, but the inconsistent nature of this spot means you’ll be waiting around. The water’s sitting at 86°F with an anomaly of 3°F – a touch warmer than normal for this time of year.

We start off Monday the 31st of August afternoon with a tiny 3 ft from the WNW and a period of only 7 seconds – that’s short-period windswell and the combined energy is a weak 66. Westerly-northwesterly winds blowing 9 mph straight onshore aren’t doing us any favours. It’s a poor outlook.

Tuesday the 1st of September morning, the swell drops to 3 ft WNW, still short period at 7 seconds, energy of 56. The wind is a glassy 3 mph from the WNW though, which is a rare moment of clean conditions, but the swell is just too weak to get excited about.

Wednesday the 2nd through to Monday the 7th of September is a real flat spell. Swell heights hover between 1 ft and 2 ft, periods of 5 to 8 seconds, and energy levels barely reaching 34. Winds are mostly cross-onshore or onshore from the NW and W, making for choppy, bumpy conditions. Not worth paddling out for.

We see a little bump around Wednesday the 9th of September afternoon, with 2 ft WNW swell and the period stretching to 8 seconds, energy of 70 – still weak. Then Thursday the 10th of September is the best of a bad bunch: 3 ft from the WNW, 8-second period, and combined energy of 119 – that’s the first time we hit triple digits. But the morning has light cross-onshore winds from the SW at 6 mph, and the afternoon turns onshore from the WNW at 12 mph. Still labelled poor surf conditions.

Friday the 11th of September morning is a standout in terms of conditions – 2 ft WNW swell, 7-second period, energy of 49, and glassy winds from the SW at 3 mph. That’s a clean window, but the swell is tiny and inconsistent. The afternoon gets cross-onshore again.

From Saturday the 12th of September through to the end of the forecast window on Tuesday the 15th of September, it’s back to tiny, weak swells – 1 ft to 3 ft – with periods of 5 to 7 seconds and onshore or cross-onshore winds. The combined energy spikes a bit on Tuesday the 15th afternoon to 103, but again, the quality is poor.

Bottom line: there’s really nothing worth rushing for here if you’re on a paddle board. The consistent poor surf quality, the weak energy, and the onshore/cross-onshore winds make this more of a kite-surfing setup than a pure surf zone for the whole period. The inconsistency of The Reef (Haifa) is a given, but this run is especially bleak. Hang loose, check in next week – things can turn around.

– Rusty

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